Freshmen getting a fresh start

When the cross came down and the chapel turned into a music room, the change became symbolically official.

The cozy school campus on Maryland Parkway that once was home to the Catholic church's Bishop Gorman High School will host a new group of students this fall. The Clark County School District is getting ready to open the doors of the new Eldorado Preparatory Academy.

On Aug. 25, about 1,220 incoming Eldorado High School freshmen will attend orientation at the 53-year-old building instead of at the school's main campus seven miles away on Linn Lane.

The school district plans to use the 10-acre, 14-building facility on Maryland to host freshmen for two to three years while it completes two building projects in the East Region -- a new high school and the East Career Technical Academy. It will then move Eldorado freshmen back to the main campus and use the Maryland campus for something else.

Besides removing all religious icons, the school has devoted most of its reconstruction energy to updating its technology. Computer labs are being added for new elective classes. Computer-aided design and broadcast journalism are some of the high-tech courses that will be offered.

Some rooms have been converted into classrooms. Electrical work and minor maintenance such as painting are being done.

"In terms of everything else, we are being very fiscally conservative with what we are doing," Principal Richard Carranza said.

The district does not want to pour money and reconstruction effort into a building that it doesn't know what it's going to do with two or three years down the line, Carranza said.

"Instead of going for the Cadillac, we are going for a nice, solid Chevy," he said.

The $16 million purchase in March came at a time when the district was already looking into starting a freshman-only campus to comply with new federal law and to improve graduation and retention rates, Carranza said. Legislation that went into effect in July calls for any high school with more than 1,200 students to have a freshman academy that is geographically separated within the school from other grades.

New research indicates that schools need to pay special attention to students' transition from middle school to high school. There's a huge problem with kids coming into the larger high school environment and feeling anonymous, Carranza said.

English and freshman studies teacher Samantha Sabo thinks the Maryland campus is part of the solution.

"I'm so excited. It's so beautiful, and it's really going to help build community among the students and teachers," she said.

Teachers will teach in teams at the academy. Each group of teachers will instruct the same group of students. Teachers will be able to keep better tabs on what is going on in students' lives, Carranza said.

"It allows teachers to build meaningful relationships with students and students to build meaningful relationships with adults, and when you look at the research, that's where you hook them into staying in school," he said.

The move also will allow the school to transition to a block schedule format. This lets students take two extra classes a year and gives them more one-on-one time with teachers, which is especially important for ninth-graders, Sabo said.

"Freshmen are like a blank sheet of white paper. There are so many possibilities for them, and if we just get the time to put what they need on that paper, then they would be prepared," she said.

The district plans to have about 220 more students at the facility than Bishop Gorman did.

Last year, Eldorado's main campus was about 700 students over capacity. The crowded hallways and classrooms made for a hectic learning environment, Carranza said.

Standardized testing had to be done in the cafeteria and gymnasium. Students would walk outside to get from one end of the building to another between classes because it was easier and quicker than navigating the crammed halls. Without the purchase of the Maryland campus, the school would have had to add four to five more portable classrooms to the 36 it already uses.

Sabo said that when 40 students are crammed into a small space, teachers spend more time on classroom management than on lessons.

School starts Aug. 27, and Sabo can't wait.

"The idea is that the kids deserve a better education than they have been getting, and this academy is the way we can give it to them," she said. "It's going to be great."